The Ontario Math Teachers Association Whiffs on Response to NR’s ‘2+2=White Supremacy’ Article

The Ontario Mathematics Coordinators Association (OMCA) has released an official statement responding to a National Review report which revealed that its senior leadership believes the basic mathematical truism “2+2=4” is an expression of “Covert White Supremacy.”

“Contrary to misinformed reporting, a math fact such as the sum of 2 and 2 is equal to 4 has never been in dispute for OMCA members,” the group wrote in a statement released on Monday.

“What is concerning is how math facts are juxtaposed with rigid views of race and gender to legitimize racism and the erasure of transgender people,” the group added.

The statement includes a hyperlink to a series of tweets compiled by OMCA president Jason To, which Brian Lilley of the Toronto Sun described as “a series of random tweets, not made in relation to the article or criticism of OMCA, but just random tweets collected by To, going back to last year.”

The statement makes no mention of National Review’s discovery that To, who also serves as the coordinator of secondary mathematics at Toronto District School Board – the largest and most influential public education body in the country – has publicly expressed a desire to transform kids into “Co-Conspirators” capable of fighting “White Supremacy” and “colonialism.” The statement also glosses over OMCA’s embrace of Critical Consciousness, a post-colonialist and Marxist framework, which seeks to develop “a state of mental and spiritual development that confers upon its subject a morally progressive, engaged, and holistic view of life,” in the words of academic Elena Mustakova-Possardt Praeger.

OMCA also failed to clarify whether it still supports To’s “White Supremacy in Math Education” pyramid, which was shared by former executive Heather Theijsmeijer and mentioned in NR’s report.

Oddly enough for an organization that believes standardized testing is a covert form of white supremacy, OMCA highlighted Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores, boasting that “Ontario is behind only Japan in terms of performance.”

The analysis is highly misleading, with the arsonists of Ontario’s math scores casting themselves as the architects of the province’s success.

PISA has documented that Canadian math scores since 2003 have been in absolute decline, and will likely bring the country in line with the average score of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member nations in the coming decades.

Between 2003 and 2018, the most recent international test, the average score for a Canadian student dropped from 532, comfortably above the international average, down to 512.

Scores on the provincial math tests administered to Ontario students by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) have also been trending in the wrong direction for years. Premier Dalton McGuinty promised in 2004 to bring three-quarters of Ontario kids up to provincial standards, but has utterly failed. Between 2012 and 2019, sixth-grade EQAO math scores declined by a fifth, with less than half of students meeting provincial standards; third grade was slightly better with only a 15 percent drop.

There was not an academic year across that stretch where public-school math scores improved, a trend that will likely continue under the current Conservative government of Doug Ford, who appears more interested in placating vocal teachers unions and pressure groups.

Not even half of sixth-grade students meet provincial math standards today. By comparison, 52 percent of ninth-graders met the bar during the 2021–2022 school year, down from 75 percent just three years prior.

For further information about the woke takeover of Ontario’s math curriculum, watch the video below.